Tabletop Game /
Net Runner

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"The greatest casualty of the early corporate wars was the middle class."

Flavor text for the Corporate War card

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Netrunner is a card game that depicts cyberspace combat between a globalmega-corporation (the Corp) and a hacker (the Runner). The Corp's goal is to complete their secret agendas before the Runner can hack in and spoil their secret plans for world domination. It isn't easy, though, as the Corp has strong defensive data forts protected by malevolent computer programs known as ICE (once again short for Intrusion Countermeasures Electronics). The Runner must use special programs of their own (called icebreakers) to break through and steal the hidden plans - to keep the Corp from taking over completely.

In 2012, Fantasy Flight Games bought the rights to Netrunner, updated it to be consistent with its cyberpunk-noir board game Android, and reissued the game as the Living Card Game Android: Netrunner. Though there have been some changes (making the game an LCG and not a CCG, of course; providing "identities" for the Corp and the Runner, each with their own abilities; lots of flavor text overhauls with references to the Android universe as well as lots of other sci-fi and fantasy), the game has been very well received. The game has both a core set and several expansions of varying sizes.

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Both games provide examples of:

Bilingual Bonus: The flavor text for Harbinger and Apocalypse are written in Baudot Code, a binary character system used by teleprinters. They translate to "I AM BECOME DEATH" and "THE DESTROYER OF WORLDS" respectively, recalling Oppenheimer's famous quote.

Cast from Hit Points: There are several cards that give the Runner a significant boost, in exchange for unpreventable brain damage.

The Cracker: The runner, possibly. In Android: Netrunner, the Criminal and possibly Anarch factions.

Cyberpunk: Very much steeped in the genre. The original version, in fact, is actually tied into the Cyberpunk tabletop game, to the point one sourcebook (Rache Bartmoss' Brainware Blowout) had rules for using the game as a replacement for the clunky netrunning rules.

Dangerous Forbidden Technology: In the original game, the "Omnitech Spinal Tap Cybermodem" In Android: Netrunner, "Spinal Modem". Both cards are cheap computers that provide a powerful edge, but also have a chance to cause unpreventable brain damage when things go wrong.

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Symmetrically, the Illicit ice from the Spin cycle. Rezing it gives the corporation Bad Publicity.

Fan Sequel: Fan expansions to the original were common after it was no longer printed.

Hollywood Hacking: You can kill programs with a virtual samurai or gangster, or bash down firewalls with a wrecking ball made of binary.

Mega-Corp: The corporation is obviously the embodiment of this trope. The four current corporate factions have their hands in nearly everything in society. Between them, very few things are outside their collective influence.

Unusual User Interface: 'Decks', the computers that Runners use, can be anything from a juiced-up PC, to a cybernetic implant that runs off of your thoughts.

The Verse: The original was set in the same universe as Cyberpunk 2020 (complete with rules for using the card game in the RPG). Android: Netrunner is set in the universe of Android.

Villain with Good Publicity: In the original game, one of the Runner's possible victory conditions is giving the Corp enough Bad Publicity points that this trope no longer applies to them. Bad publicity was kept in Android: Netrunner, but it only provides the Runners with more financial resources to attack the Corporation and is not a victory condition by itself.

Tropes Exclusive To Android: Netrunner:

Androids Are People, Too: The Haas-Bioroid faction specialises in AI and androids. In the verse, they're running a PR campaign to get them accepted as people. They're also trying to get citizenship rights for clones, their main competitor's androids, to undermine their business strategy, although a few notable clones like Caprice Nisei are trying to secure personhood for themselves and their brethren.

Big Brother Is Watching: The NBN faction, besides owning almost all the media, specializes in knowing everything about the runner, which in game mechanics translate to "tags," which enable actions the corp can perform to cripple the runner. There is even an NBN card named Big Brother.

Clones Are Expendable: The Jinteki corp mainly sells clones to do work that humans can't or won't do, or to grow medical spare parts.

Cloning Blues: Life pretty much sucks for clones, who are supposed to have Happiness in Slavery but are hinted to be aware that they're basically slaves that can be "retired". Several do run away, including criminal runner Ken "Express" Tenma.

Evil, Inc.: All Corporation factions from Android: Netrunner more or less qualify, but Weyland deserves special mention. Their way of dealing with Runners is usually nothing short of assassination, and they don't mind blowing up a whole district just to get one guy.

Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: Frequently mentioned. It really does depend on the runner in question; some are motivated by altruism, some by greed, and some simply by boredom. The Anarch faction has the most self-described freedom fighters against corporate oppression.

Corporation: Bad Publicity gives 1 recurring credit for runners to use on every subsequent run, but is usually associated with a powerful upfront gain.

Put on a Bus: Android: Netrunner experienced its first card rotation in 2017, eliminating Andromeda, Whizzard, and Kate Mc Caffrey from tournament play, but two of them have a single card depicting a narrative for why they no longer run.

On the Lam depicts Andromeda fleeing pursuit and leaving her dress and wig in the dumpster, revealing she is actually a short-haired brunette.

BOOM! depicts Whizzard on the recieving end of a small missile intended to kill him. Whether or not it did is unknown.

Situational Sword: Certain "tech" cards that are strong against certain archetypes or card types but useless if they don't appear. For example, Cyberdex Virus Suite shuts down virus decks, while Film Critic is only useful for securing agendas that have harmful effects associated with stealing them.

What Measure Is a Non-Human?: A frequent theme, as far as Jinteki, Haas-Bioroid, and the Anarch group "Human First" are concerned. The former corporations are fighting to ensure that their intellectual property are not considered people, and Haas is trying to undermine its competitor with a suffrage movement for clones. Human First, however, hates all androids (and their owners) for taking their jobs and definitely do not consider them people.

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